Cooperator women produce shirts from centuries-old Lefke cloth

Osmaneli Women Entrepreneurs Cooperative members produce souvenirs such as napkins, tablecloths, loincloths, needle lace and purse and authentic bags made of cloth prepared on the looms in Osmaneli Women Entrepreneurs Mansion, as part of the "Lefke Cloth Weaving Training Project", and market them in Turkey and abroad.

In the works carried out under the leadership of Osmaneli Municipality with the slogan "Our women will give life to Lefke cloth", a project for the production of shirts from cotton Lefke cloth, which was included in the "National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was prepared.

It is aimed to increase the market share of Lefke cloth production, which keeps it cool in summer and warm in winter, and which was widely used from the early 1900s until the 1970s, with the "Lefke shirt".

Shirt production, which was started a while ago in Osmaneli Women Entrepreneurs Mansion and Public Education Center workshops in the district, continues by 22 women who are members of the cooperative.

Interest in natural products is increasing

Osmaneli Mayor Münür Şahin told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they have come to an important position in the weaving of Lefke cloth, that they have succeeded in reproducing the cloth as a result of the trainings given, and that they have turned it into mass production.

Stating that lefke fabric was chosen among the most admired designs at the Young Designers' EthnoFashion Festival held in Russia in November 2018, Şahin said, "We have started mass production of lefke fabric with Lefke shirts. We have started to produce our new shirts. Our sewing shop is gradually expanding.
It will be found in every corner of Turkey in a very short time, in 1-2 years."

Şahin stated that the Lefke cloth, which is a valuable textile product, is made of natural cotton and that such materials have become more popular in recent years.

Mentioning the market share of the product abroad, Şahin said:

"We are planning to export natural products especially to the country as well as abroad. Because it is a valuable product for fashion designers. Therefore, Lefke cloth is one of our products that is gradually known abroad. We also provide textile weaving to countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands through certain entrepreneurs, but from now on, we will have the chance to give these weavings as processed products, shirts for both women and men."

"We weave with patterns, we do plain weaves"

Intangible cultural heritage artist Gülay Durak also stated that they are working to produce new products in the Lefke cloth weaving workshop.

Stating that they added Lefke cloth shirts to their weaving group, Durak said, "There was a high demand, so we started to produce shirts. We weave patterned and plain weaves according to the instructions of our friends in our sewing team. According to her design, the sewing team sews our shirts. Its feature is that it is cotton. It keeps you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We make thin or thick weaving according to the season and present our shirts in this way."

Emine Çiftlikli, one of the master trainers of Osmaneli Public Education Center, stated that they organize courses in cooperation with Osmaneli Municipality.

Explaining that they produce Lefke cloth with the members of the cooperative, Çiftlikli said:

"We started to design the desired product. We were already producing women's clothing. Now we adapt it to the present, we renew the old. We cut and weave more regularly because it is hand-woven. We cannot do the work that we apply to a normal fabric to Lefke cloth, because it is a job that requires more mastery.
We can produce the desired order quantity. We have a daily production capacity of around 30 shirts. The conditions of our workshop are suitable for this."